Product: Samsung SGH-A437 Quad-Band GoPhone
Manufacturer: Samsung
MSRP: $249.99 [BizRate]
Lowest Historical Price: $30 [History]
Introduction
The first time we posted this phone, we checked out the specs and thought "Wow, this costs only $30?" It seemed to have a compelling feature set: Quad-Band, Bluetooth, Built-in Camera. After discovering how easy it was to unlock it, we decided to buy the phone and review it. At a price point of $30, and with no contract to add any surprise costs, the only risk was if we ended up disliking the phone.
Specs
Colors: Slate, Red, Gold
Band: GSM/850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Network & Data: EDGE
Weight: 2.9oz
Dimensions (HxWxD): 3.74"x1.89"x.63"
Form Factor: Clamshell w/ Internal Antenna
LCD (Internal): 65k TFT at 128x160 Pixels
LCD (External): 4 Grey Scale at 96x96 Pixels
Battery: 5 hr talk time / 250 hr standby time
Memory: 3MB
Camera Resolution: up to 640x480 w/ 2x Digital Zoom and Self Timer
Video Recording: Yes
Voice Memo: Yes
Email: Yes (sort of)
Bluetooth: Yes
Internet HTML Browser: Media Net Internet Browsing
Calendar: Yes
Speakerphone: Yes
more specs here
Setup
We unlocked the A437 (an AT&T phone) using these instructions and tested it with a T-Mobile SIM card. In order to unlock the phone you must have a SIM card from a different carrier than AT&T. After unlocking it you can use it with any SIM card, including the $10 prepaid card that is included when you buy the phone.
Review
The Samsung SGH-A437 is a midrange camera phone that is both light and compact. For the average user, this phone probably has all the features you would want. It is a quad-band GSM phone, which means that after you unlock it, you can use any SIM card from any carrier. Because of this, you can also use the A437 as an international phone as long as you can obtain a SIM card at your travel destination. It also comes with bluetooth and a basic camera, both of which are standard features on phones these days.
I found the sound quality of the phone to be pretty good. I was able to use speakerphone and talk with the phone on my lap, with little or no degradation in sound quality for either party. The overall design of the phone is fairly simple. There is a small black and white external display to show you the time and a custom message, and a 65k TFT internal display. We did notice however that the hinge feels a little flimsy. The keys are flush with the phone similar to the RAZR, which makes button presses almost as annoying the RAZR's.
The A437 lacks some features that are critical for power users. The bluetooth is crippled to the point where the only intact functionality is connectivity for a bluetooth headset. There is no support for bluetooth tethering (and why would you want to at EDGE speeds anyways?). In order to customize any of your wallpapers or ringtones, you have to either purchase them through AT&T or you have to buy the USB cable (not included) and download the Samsung Sync Software. Even with the USB cable, you are fairly limited to what you can do. The phone does not support Phone Sync, so you cannot easily manage your contacts or calendar through Outlook. You can, however, edit contacts on your phone with the software. MP3 ringtones cannot be larger than 300KB, and since there is no memory card slot, you are limited to using the 3MB internal memory. This also means that you cannot use this phone as your music player.
The A437 supports Java applications, so you can download Google Maps and Gmail (the built-in Mail software only supports Yahoo Mail, Windows Live and some other random email services), and Opera Mini.
When I tested the internet functionality of the phone, I found the built-in Internet Browser to be quite inadequate. So I downloaded Opera Mini, which displayed the pages a little better. There was a persistent issue of programs ending with a fatal error. It may be an AT&T issue, it may be a Samsung issue, it may be a Java issue, it may even be a Google issue. But when I tried to run Google Maps and I shifted the map center too many times, the program errored out. This happened with all the Java programs that I used to connect to the internet.
The A437 comes with a built-in VGA camera, so you can take pictures on-the-go. In fact, you can take a picture with the phone closed, so you can take a picture with your favorite "myspace" angle. The camera won't be winning any awards for picture quality, but who buys a camera phone and expects it to take pictures like an SLR?
Conclusion
The Samsung SGH-A437 has all the basic parts of a good phone. It has bluetooth, a camera, and it is an unlockable quad-band GSM phone. It is great phone if you don't demand much from your phone other than texting and chatting. However, if you are a power user, you may want to relegate this to "travel phone" duties.
Image Gallery
Price History [History]
Manufacturer: Samsung
MSRP: $249.99 [BizRate]
Lowest Historical Price: $30 [History]
Introduction
The first time we posted this phone, we checked out the specs and thought "Wow, this costs only $30?" It seemed to have a compelling feature set: Quad-Band, Bluetooth, Built-in Camera. After discovering how easy it was to unlock it, we decided to buy the phone and review it. At a price point of $30, and with no contract to add any surprise costs, the only risk was if we ended up disliking the phone. Specs
Colors: Slate, Red, GoldBand: GSM/850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Network & Data: EDGE
Weight: 2.9oz
Dimensions (HxWxD): 3.74"x1.89"x.63"
Form Factor: Clamshell w/ Internal Antenna
LCD (Internal): 65k TFT at 128x160 Pixels
LCD (External): 4 Grey Scale at 96x96 Pixels
Battery: 5 hr talk time / 250 hr standby time
Memory: 3MB
Camera Resolution: up to 640x480 w/ 2x Digital Zoom and Self TimerVideo Recording: Yes
Voice Memo: Yes
Email: Yes (sort of)
Bluetooth: Yes
Internet HTML Browser: Media Net Internet Browsing
Calendar: Yes
Speakerphone: Yes
more specs here
Setup
We unlocked the A437 (an AT&T phone) using these instructions and tested it with a T-Mobile SIM card. In order to unlock the phone you must have a SIM card from a different carrier than AT&T. After unlocking it you can use it with any SIM card, including the $10 prepaid card that is included when you buy the phone.
Review
The Samsung SGH-A437 is a midrange camera phone that is both light and compact. For the average user, this phone probably has all the features you would want. It is a quad-band GSM phone, which means that after you unlock it, you can use any SIM card from any carrier. Because of this, you can also use the A437 as an international phone as long as you can obtain a SIM card at your travel destination. It also comes with bluetooth and a basic camera, both of which are standard features on phones these days.
I found the sound quality of the phone to be pretty good. I was able to use speakerphone and talk with the phone on my lap, with little or no degradation in sound quality for either party. The overall design of the phone is fairly simple. There is a small black and white external display to show you the time and a custom message, and a 65k TFT internal display. We did notice however that the hinge feels a little flimsy. The keys are flush with the phone similar to the RAZR, which makes button presses almost as annoying the RAZR's.
The A437 lacks some features that are critical for power users. The bluetooth is crippled to the point where the only intact functionality is connectivity for a bluetooth headset. There is no support for bluetooth tethering (and why would you want to at EDGE speeds anyways?). In order to customize any of your wallpapers or ringtones, you have to either purchase them through AT&T or you have to buy the USB cable (not included) and download the Samsung Sync Software. Even with the USB cable, you are fairly limited to what you can do. The phone does not support Phone Sync, so you cannot easily manage your contacts or calendar through Outlook. You can, however, edit contacts on your phone with the software. MP3 ringtones cannot be larger than 300KB, and since there is no memory card slot, you are limited to using the 3MB internal memory. This also means that you cannot use this phone as your music player.
The A437 supports Java applications, so you can download Google Maps and Gmail (the built-in Mail software only supports Yahoo Mail, Windows Live and some other random email services), and Opera Mini.
When I tested the internet functionality of the phone, I found the built-in Internet Browser to be quite inadequate. So I downloaded Opera Mini, which displayed the pages a little better. There was a persistent issue of programs ending with a fatal error. It may be an AT&T issue, it may be a Samsung issue, it may be a Java issue, it may even be a Google issue. But when I tried to run Google Maps and I shifted the map center too many times, the program errored out. This happened with all the Java programs that I used to connect to the internet.
The A437 comes with a built-in VGA camera, so you can take pictures on-the-go. In fact, you can take a picture with the phone closed, so you can take a picture with your favorite "myspace" angle. The camera won't be winning any awards for picture quality, but who buys a camera phone and expects it to take pictures like an SLR?
Conclusion
The Samsung SGH-A437 has all the basic parts of a good phone. It has bluetooth, a camera, and it is an unlockable quad-band GSM phone. It is great phone if you don't demand much from your phone other than texting and chatting. However, if you are a power user, you may want to relegate this to "travel phone" duties.
Image Gallery
Price History [History]
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The original link didn't work for me.
Unlock code:
http://www.vahini.net/info/samsung-a437-unlock-code-sgh-a437/
http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/non-zune-buy-sell/18080-samsung-a437-quad-band-gophone-20-a.html
To unlock this phone, heres the steps i found on a website:
First with different carrier SIM in phone at WRONG CARD screen ENTER on the keypad
*2767*3855# (wait 10-15 seconds) phone will reboot(restart)
When phone completes reboot ENTER
*7465625*638*0*0#
NEXT ENTER
#7465625*638*0#
AND THEN *#7465625# to check the locks....all locks are inactive...these are all the locks...
network lock - inactive
subset lock - inactive
sp lock - inactive
cp lock - inactive
sim lock - inactive
activa lock - inactive
phone lock - inactive
auto network - inactive
auto subset lock - inactive
auto sp lock - inactive
auto cp lock - inactive
hope that helps for people that wants this phone
*
Insert different carrier SIM in phone and then Display Screen shows WRONG CARD
THEN ENTER on the keypad
*2767*3855# (wait 10-15 seconds) phone will reboot(restart)
When phone completes reboot ENTER
*7465625*638*0*0#
NEXT ENTER
#7465625*638*0#
AND THEN
Turn off your phone and turn back on.
Your phone is unlocked now.
Note: We dont guarantee for all the Phones will work with this code. Do IT At your own Risk. We dont take any responsibility, if the code does not work or the phone is locked. Dont try it for more than once.
I need a unlock code for sony ericsson w580i, thanks.
I need an unlock code for a Motorola StarTAC, tyia.
sony ericsson phones can't really be unlocked..
The only thing the review doesn't mention is that it does not support Chinese text.
i got it, nice, sound quality not as good as my old sony ericsson. other than bluetooth, quadband and camera its just a basic phone.
i need an unlock code for a Lexus G7
#4 - Sony Ericsson phones can really be unlocked....ask me how I know.
#2 - There aren't really unlock codes for them. You need a cable and certain programs depending on the phone. Or just search on Google and pay one of the unlock groups 10 bucks or however much it is to remotely unlock it for you. Or just take it to your provider and tell them you want to use it.
Ok, So I got 2 of these last week for 19.99ea. (both red) and got them pretty fast. I opened one and removed the card that it came with and put mine in, it worked right away. I have a before cingular/AT&T, AT&T plan. I never went to cingular but kept my old AT&T plan, they told me that the phones under that plan will not work w/ cingular and visa versa, so everyphone I ever got, I had to purchase on e-bay and unlock them. Well these works with my olddddd AT&T plan great, no need to unlock. They are great, a little on the lighter side compare to my old Razr, so far so good. Sad they went up $10. The one I am using looks new right of the box.
thx #8. hmmm, i may talk to my provider local store to see if they can unlock for me FREE that I really really need it outside of the S
IMHO this is a PoS phone with a rediculesly high price
this phone sucks. short battery life and the outter screen cracks easily (mine cracked) and samsung does not reapir it.
I was able to get 2 red, when they were $20. I am trying to get another one and it doesn't allow me to.
you can buy another one but u can't use the same address or name. you have to use another name and address. Another good deal right now at AT&T is the Nokia 6126. That's even cheaper and better features and camera. problem is that it can't be unlocked. and the Sony Ericsson can be unlocked but it requires flashing and debranding instead of just a code.
my monitor also crapped out with this phone, still works though, but the screen only shows gray ...
Based on what #9 said, you can use the phone with a regular AT&T individual/family phone plan when you put in your SIM card. Am I correct?
So after I have unlocked the phone, I can put in a T-Mobile regular phone plan SIM card and it should work.
how's the ringer and speakerphone volume?
#17, the sound and speaker are good and loud.
thanks #18 i'll take one.
#5, maybe you should ask Ben to start a list of languages the review units DON'T support from now on? That'd make sense, eh? So this phone does not support Chinese (Traditional or Simplified), French, Bengali, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic (except for numbers), Turkish, Russian...